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Research Project 2 - Thesis

Vak
2023-2024

Admission requirements

For master students of Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences only. The student has successfully completed Research Project 1 (including thesis and oral presentation). Also the practical work of the Research Project 2 needs to be completed for the larger part. At least 1 month BEFORE the anticipated start of Research Project 2 the student should complete the application form in ProjectMAP (see “Registration” below for details).

Description

After 24.5 weeks of practical work for Research Project 2, the student will start writing his/her thesis. The thesis allows the student to demonstrate his/her competence to critically and systematically integrate the knowledge obtained during Research Project 2 in a comprehensive and concise report written in academic English. In general, the thesis contains the following components: public summary, abstract, introduction, materials&methods, results, discussion, conclusion, and references and is expected to be completed in approximately 3.5 weeks.

In general draft versions of the thesis should be evaluated minimally once and maximally three times before a final mark is provided, thereby allowing the students to optimize the thesis based on supervisor feedback. Guidelines are available on the Brightspace module ‘MSc Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences’.

Course objectives

At the end of the course, the student

  • can write a coherent, well-argued, and logically structured scientific report about his/her research

  • can write a well-structured introduction section covering relevant scientific literature and with a clear problem definition.

  • can write a concise materials&methods section with appropriate details allowing others researchers to repeat the experiments.

  • can write a coherent results section in which data are presented in clear figures and/or tables and results are systematically described, highlighting the most relevant observations for addressing the research problem

  • can write a well-argued discussion section with proper data interpretation and placement of the research findings in the broader perspective of the scientific literature.

  • can write in grammatically correct Academic English with appropriate register and use of sentence structure and paragraphs.

Timetable

Not applicable.

Mode of instruction

Self tuition, tutoring

Assessment method

Written report; minimum grade is 6.0.

In case the final assessment of the thesis of Research Project 2 is graded as "insufficient", the student may rewrite the thesis based on the feedback of the supervisor/examiner. Please note that in case the final grade of the Practical Work of Research Project 2 is graded as "insufficient", the entire Research Project 2 will need to be conducted again, including the thesis under supervision of a different daily supervisor and first examiner.

Reading list

Not applicable.

Registration

BEFORE the start of Research Project 2 the student should get approval:
1. Start the process by completing the application form for Research Project 2 in ProjectMAP, including a) details of the host institute, b) description of the research project, c) a list of publications related to the project of the research group, and d) if applicable, signed agreement with host institute.
2. the on-site supervisor at the host institute and the internal supervisor (mandated by the Board of Examiners of the master Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences) receive a link to the application for approval
3. upon approval by the on-site and internal supervisor the application will be forwarded to the BPS Programme Director for final approval

Note: without completion of point 1 and 2 and without final approval (point 3) in ProjectMAP the student will not be allowed to start!

Registration for the course via MyStudyMap is not needed.

Contact

For general information about the Research Project 2, please contact the study advisor (studyadvisorBPS@lacdr.leidenuniv.nl).

Remarks

Every semester, there is a theory lecture scheduled where information about the Literature Study and the Research Project 2 is discussed. Please check My Timetable for the dates using the code 4323BPSJ1H
group 103 (semester 1) or group 104 (semester 2). Application via My StudyMap for these theory lectures is mandatory.
Attendance of the theory lecture prior to starting the Research Project 2 is advised, but not mandatory.

This information is without prejudice. Alterations can be made for next year.
This information is without prejudice. Alterations can be made for next year.